Written By: John

Woodroffe made these illustrations in the late 19th century. The text is straight Shakespeare, selected and edited by Rhys. The initial scans came through quite age toned. It was difficult to correct, as some of the detail kept getting lost, so I have included both the raw scans as well as the edited versions in the GALLERY for this book.

Woodroffe was a prolific illustrator of the period. His work included a lot of Shakespeare, Bible stories, children’s books, and the like.

I have put the accompanying text with some of the illustrations.

The book, including lower resolution scans of these pictures, is fully digitzed HERE.

IT was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o’er the green corn-field did pass,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
These pretty country folks would lie.

This carol they began that hour,
How that life was but a flower:

And, therefore, take the present time
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;
For love is crown&grave;d with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, –
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never:
– Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into, Hey nonny, nonny.

Sing no more ditties, sing no mo,
Or dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leafy.
– Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into, Hey, nonny, nonny.

At least a couple to a few hundred dollars, I would think. Probably more. I have no direct knowledge of any sales, but the one copy of your edition I see for sale is listed at about $700. This does not mean your copy is worth that much, nor that the copy I see for sale is actually worth that much. It does mean that the volume is scarce, and a copy in good condition would be worth a nice sum.

Keep in mind that if you sold it to a bookstore or on eBay it might not get the value you see it listed at in a bookstore, as copies usually take a long time to sell at that price. So the value to you is dependent on whether you are looking at insurance value, replacement value, or the price you could get for a quick sale.

– John

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